White supremacist elected to Pa. county GOP

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Luzerne County Republican Party said it’s not yet sure how it will respond to the April 29 election to its party committee of a man with ties to a Pennsylvania white supremacy group.

Steve Smith, the former director of the Keystone State Skinheads, won the position through a write-in campaign after no other candidates stood for election.

Terry Casey, head of the Luzerne County GOP, told The Times Leader on Friday that he was "unaware of Smith’s background" and is unsure how the party will handle the situation.

"It will be a matter for the executive committee and the committee people to decide," Casey told The Times Leader.

Casey added that he was not certain if the party had the authority to remove Smith from his post because he was elected to the position.

According to The Times Leader, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party alerted media organizations to a Southern Poverty Law Center article that detailed Smith’s past and called on the Luzerne County GOP to remove Smith from his post.

Smith received a 2003 federal conviction for ethnic intimidation and terrorist threats pertaining to the assault of an African-American man in Scranton, Pa.